In Lerner’spostmodern novel about an artist’s search for authenticity, the protagonist poet, crippled by irony and doubt, longs to disappear into numbness. But he secretly believes in the power of art. Beyond merely staging the novel, Mohr’s adaptation takes the genre-breaking nature of Lerner’s auto-fiction as a jumping off point for hybrid theater: part dance improvisation, part monologue, part hallucinatory testimonial for the role of art in precarious times. Featuring two veteran performers, Christian Burns and Wiley Naman Strasser, each of whom embodies a different aspect of the protagonist’s conflicted self.

Joan H. Padeo’s “CREST” looks into the finite and fragile nature of life. Through the acceptance of the truth and the death of things– be it a loved one’s life, a friendship, a lovership, or the ending of a significant period in one’s own life– liberation is found. This work aims to reflect the resilience of life, how even though the ending of all things is inevitable, existing at all can become a rebellious and liberating act.

A fellowship of six become ever-shifting embodiments of the earth and its natural forces, paying homage to the source from which everything comes from and returns. Together six distinct movers take part in each others’ journey to ascension, bracing one another for the truths that await them at the peak.

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Hope Mohr Dance, based in San Francisco, creates, fosters and presents outstanding art at the intersection of the body and the brain. www.hopemohr.org

Joan H. Padeo is a performer, choreographer, and collaborator based in Los Angeles. She currently dances with LA companies, IRIS Company (immersive dance-theatre creators), and Acts of Matter. She has worked with other LA-based artists including Jordan Saenz, Andrea Ordaz, Deep Blue Dance, and has additionally worked and toured with B. Dunn Movement Dance & Theatre Company. Among others, Joan has worked with Zoe Scofield, Troy Ogilvie, Yuanyuan Wang, Laurence Blake, and Don Martin and has performed works by Jiri Kylian and Hans Van Manen. Commercially, she assisted in choreographing an advertisement nominated in the 2017 Tongies Awards (Australia/NZ). Joan is certified in C-I Training™ and was the Princess Grace CalArts Nominee for Dance Performance in 2015. She is an associate alumni of the Boston Conservatory and holds a BFA in Performance & Choreography from California Institute of the Arts. www.joanhollypadeo.com